Exciti

Chapter 51 (Adam)

The coolness of the ground felt comforting against Adam's flushed face. He blinked in an attempt to clear his vision, which was filled with the shifting hem of the Emperor's robe as he kneeled next to his face.

His field of vision shifted when the Emperor's hand pulled his chin and peered at his face. "You know, Eclipser? You and I and are very much alike. Great powers, fearsome weapons, and yet all alone." Adam wished he had the strength to glare.

The Emperor pushed Adam's face to look at the fight around them. Blurry shapes darted in and out of his tunneling vision. "Look at them. They hate us because they know that we are above their little struggles. They fear us because they know where they place in this world." His voice took on a growling edge, "You of all people should understand this, Eclipser. I'm not evil, all I wanted was my natural place in the world."

Adam hated the vile touch on his face, he could feel the Exciti that were trapped inside the Emperor: confined, angry and begging to be freed. "Murderer."

The Emperor pinched Adam's face harder and moved it back to look at him, "am I?! Look at me, Eclipser, the Exciti I merged with are forever immortal, they now have a bigger, more significant purpose in life? This deserves praise!"

He is insane! Despair clenched at Adam's heart as he realized he would probably die there. The Emperor was right, he was all alone against him.

"Yet instead, I was thrown to rot in the Waters for five hundred years," He let go of Adam's face, lost in his own world. "So, I waited, fed, and watched. I knew my time will come, the worthy always prevail."

Successive images started popping into Adam's head, making him wonder if his life was playing in front of his eyes one last time. Images of his mom, of Tam, od Liam and Lucy.

The Emperor stood up, "Imagine my delight when a load of Exciti fell, literally, into my lap, followed by a few of my loyal servants who came to investigate a mere rumor that the Waters around me felt...different." He laughed, "I knew the universe was favoring me then. But I became certain when the Raiser went and reported her gift to one of my followers."

Adam stopped listening. He watched his hot breath blow particles of sand to where his puzzle pieces had fallen. His thoughts went out to them, Goodbye.

Why leaving us so?

I'm too weak to stop him.

Why do you let it be so?

What? No, I... Adam started, but his thoughts ground to a halt when the pieces started showing him something, a different way to handle things.

A new game we'd love so.

With nothing to lose, Adam tried.

The Emperor continued to rant, pacing the length of Adam's body. "I will only offer this once, Eclipser. Join me, and we will never be alone in this world again. Refuse me, and what awaits you, and everyone you love, is certain death."

Adam flexed his fingers. The plan was working: the heat was leaving his body. Filled with delirious hope, he started chuckling.

"You are laughing," the Emperor stopped his pacing.

Adam mumbled, trying to get up, "Don't...likes...you."

"What?"

Adam straightened up and faced a surprised Emperor. "Don't lump me with the likes of you!" his voice was getting stronger and steadier. "Only I decide what my gift makes of me, and I would never choose to be anything like you. Oh, and you stink!"

It was simple thermodynamics all along. He'd always feared and battled the energy he absorbed, trapping it within his body and allowing it to raise his temperature. All he had to do was allow the energy to seep freely within his veins, and trust his gift to guide it to the outlet he offered for it: his Burr puzzle. The puzzle pieces welcomed the heat, they orbited around his arm, hot and glowing like ambers.

"Then you've chosen your demise!" yelled the Emperor. A burst of his slimy, black energy snaked its way to Adam once more, only to disappear a foot away from him.

Adam grinned, Kerman was right all along. The more he embraced his gift, the more it oozed through his skin and infiltrated the air around him, creating a protective shell. He grabbed the Emperor's robes. "Go back to the history books!" he growled.

The contact allowed Adam to Eclipse the very Exciti that kept the Emperor alive. He could feel their deep relief to be freed.

The Emperor's eyes widened as he realized what Adam was doing. He swung a fist at him, then screamed when his fist connected with the hot puzzle pieces that flew to shackle his wrist with a sizzle.

Adam clenched his jaw in concentration. He did not know how long he could keep this up.

The Emperor's powers were draining fast. The giant body was soon brought to its knees. He looked at Adam with disbelief, before his expression turned to one of reckless abandon. "I won't go alone, Eclipser."

Adam had barely a second to register the words when the Emperor screamed and dropped them both to the ground, planting his palms on the stage. The sound was so loud that Adam felt it reverberate within his very skull. Instinctively, he let go of the Emperor to protect his ringing ears.

Red, glowing cracks spread outward from the Emperor's touch like spiderwebs, the earth shook and the lava stream shot up like a massive geyser. Adam watched in alarm as everyone, including a few Crimsoners, crowded in the middle of the square, away from the swelling lava and the ashy smoke.

When he looked back, he found that the Emperor had used the distraction to hop off the stage and was already several meters away, hobbling toward the lava.

"Where do you think you are going?" growled Adam and leaped off the stage to chase him.

Whatever the Emperor had done, it seemed to have unsettled the ruins. Adam had to swerve to avoid the increasingly larger pieces of stone that had started to fall and embed themselves into the ground. The smoke and dust made every breath painful, and yet Adam continued to chase the Emperor, focusing on his crimson robe as the visibility of the entire square started to drop.

"I won't let you escape," he yelled when he was a few paces away.

"Watch out!" Adam heard Lucy yell a second before she flew into him, tackling him to the ground.

An entire column fell from the ceiling, landing in a cloud of dust two steps away. Adam looked up, coughing, "Get off me. The Emperor is escaping."

A singed Lucy sat up, unbothered by the smoke or the dust, and pointed, "I don't think you need to worry about him anymore."

Adam squinted to look and felt an odd sense of horrified disbelief. A small piece of the crimson robe peeked from under a pile of massive stones.